Development

This week we have been able to have a meeting with the developer of our little urbanization of 24 homes, to establish progress. It is the first time we have had our own interpreter and it was really enlightening to be able to understand and question everything fully.

On our excavated field so far there are 5 homes completed, three of them lived in, including ours, and two used for holidays. There are another 7 at various stages of completion and the rest of the development is a field in waiting! Our choice of the biggest plot available 3 years ago means that we are alone on the top far left corner of the field and have the soil foundation of a road leading across the field to our house. The developer informed us that due to the decline of the property market over here, he is not planning to build any more houses but is going to sell the plots of land to people who wish to build their own! Our road will not be completed until all the houses have been built as the construction traffic will cause damage to the road.

On first hearing this news we were understandably very disappointed as it will be many years before we are part of a flourishing urbanization complete with neighbours, post boxes, roads and street lights etc.

However, it does mean it will be many years before we have to pay urbanization taxes! It also means that we have our views to the side for much longer, until we get neighbours, and the wildlife can continue to provide us with entertainment and pleasure with much less disturbance than we were anticipating. As for the road, well many people over here would dream of a dirt track with as few craters as ours! The facts that we are the only ones using it at the moment and can now get our car onto our driveway makes it feel like our own luxury highway! The arrival of post boxes would remove the incentive for our wonderful weekly post office hike and the light pollution from street lights is bound to have a detrimental effect on our view of the stars. Therefore, all things considered, the news was almost good news for us in the end! It will obviously make a difference to our lettings plans but considering other places people are willing to get themselves to in this vicinity, it isn’t completely bleak, just a matter of reaching the right market.

Meanwhile, I can delight in observing the progress of the neighbouring flora and fauna through the seasons and continue with my vigorous aqua aerobics in our pool- completely unobserved by curious neighbours! There is, after all, a lot to be said for living in the corner of a field.